Ralph Carrasquillo to Direct SUNY Cortland Residential Services

CORTLAND, NY (05/27/2008)(readMedia)-- Ralph Carrasquillo of Geneseo, N.Y., who currently directs residence life at SUNY Geneseo, will join SUNY Cortland on June 2 as director of residential services.

Hired by Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Richard Peagler, he will report to C. Gregory Sharer, the newly hired vice president for student affairs.

Carrasquillo replaces Michael Holland, who was promoted within the Division of Student Affairs to assistant to the vice president for student affairs.

Carrasquillo will be the senior administrator responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating the residence life program for the College’s approximately 3,100 undergraduate students housed in 15 residential facilities. In that capacity, he will oversee the campus vision and long-range planning for student development, learning communities, student retention, diversity and multiculturalism.

While managing a departmental budget of $2.5 million, he will supervise 20 professional and five clerical staff members and more than 130 student employees including residential assistants. Carrasquillo also will plan and coordinate furniture and other residence hall equipment replacement programs and oversee residence hall rehabilitation and renovation projects.

A native of New York City who graduated from Uniondale (N.Y.) High School, Carrasquillo has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Educational Psychology and a Master of Science in Counseling/Higher Education from SUNY Oneonta.

As residence life director at SUNY Geneseo since May 2001, Carrasquillo oversees a campus housing program similar in size to the one at SUNY Cortland. He has partnered with campus departments to promote student development and has extensive experience in residential program planning with respect to new construction and renovations.

Before joining SUNY Geneseo, Carrasquillo served five years as director of residence life at Philadelphia University in Pennsylvania. From 1988-1996, he directed residence hall operations at SUNY Oneonta, where he began in 1983 as a residence hall director. He delivered the keynote address at SUNY Oneonta’s 1988 Student Leadership Banquet.

Carrasquillo began his career as a residence hall director at Kutztown University, Pa., serving in 1982-83.

A member of the State University of New York Residence Life and Housing Administrators (SUNYRLHA), Carrasquillo has served the organization as secretary, as four-year colleges representative and as chair of the Recognition Committee. He is also active in the Rochester Area Housing Directors Consortium, a group committed to providing training opportunities for staff and students in the region.

Carrasquillo has given many public presentations on topics related to student engagement and leadership development. He has served as a Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development presenter since 2001. He has delivered certificate-required programs on running effective meetings.

Carrasquillo helped implement the first annual Student Leadership Institute, “Leadership Is Up To You,” at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

He has fulfilled leadership roles in multicultural initiatives throughout his career. At SUNY Geneseo, he assisted in facilitating the first campus dialogue titled “Diversity in the Classroom,” and since has facilitated discussion on such topics as “Hate and Bias Incidents on Campus.”

Carrasquillo also took part in a learning community and immersion language program developed with the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department for two SUNY Geneseo residence halls, La Residencia Hispana and La Résidence Français.

He is an honorary member of the Golden Key National Honor Society and Phi Eta Sigma, the national honor society for first-year students.

Carrasquillo is engaged to Natasha Bonilla, who works as a paralegal.

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Posted Tuesday May 27, 2008 at 12:07 pm by SUNY Cortland